Lydia Joy!

We’re so happy to announce that Lydia Joy was born on January 8, 2010! Right on her due date!! 

Labor started pretty abruptly Thursday night and then progressed for about 12 hours in the hospital before our little girl arrived. I’ll share all the details another time if anyone’s really interested. But for now, on to the exciting things about LYDIA!

She was born at 8:05am on Friday at a healthy 7 pounds, 7 ounces and 21 inches long (nice and tall!)

Blessed to be is now a complete understatement. We can’t begin to describe the joy that she has already brought to our lives.

These first few days, Adam and I have just been in awe of her beauty and God’s amazing creation. I think it’s still sinking in that we are parents and that she is ours to raise and grow in the ways of the Lord! What a privilege!

Thank you so much to all of our loving friends and family who were praying for Lydia and me throughout labor, delivery, and recovery. We couldn’t have asked for a better first week. Praise the Lord!

Lydia has had a lot of “firsts” already in one week… We’ll try to keep you posted on all of that soon!

waiting :-)

Well, I've made it through 9 months and I'm still feeling pretty good! Our little miracle is technically due to arrive on January 8, but ultimately we know her arrival is all in God's perfect timing.

I decided it'd be fun to post a poll: When do you think our little girl will arrive?! (See above)

And any tips on what to add to this list (It's mostly for Adam- stuff to grab while heading out the door!)

home for Christmas

With baby Hunter’s arrival quickly approaching, we are spending Christmas and New Years close to home this year :)

We hung our little girl’s first ornament, a “Superbaby” onesie

Our daddy, mommy, and baby gifts from Grandma Bond:

Our Christmas present to each other this year is a digital SLR camera!! It’s so cool!! I still need to read the manual to figure everything out. So far, I can turn it on and take an auto focus picture, but that’s about it!!

Adam has figured out quite a bit this last week. Check out some of the cool photos he’s taken:

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Mom and Dad drove in from CT to spend the next several weeks out in the midwest visiting their 6 (soon to be 7) grandkids!!    

We had a pre-Christmas dinner with Robin, Jon and the kids here on Saturday. It was a fun excuse to get out our fancy china from Grandma Bond :)

Merry Christmas everyone!! Hope you enjoy sweet time with family and friends, but most of all reflect on the most amazing gift ever given: our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

friends with a photographer!

Erica is just getting her photography business off the ground and she graciously offered to do our maternity photo shoot!! 

It was a cold blustery day, but the leaves were beautiful.

Help me out- which one should I use for my new blog header??

Erica has such amazing skills with the camera- you can barely tell I had a stuffy runny nose that day!

Here’s little Dufry- the teddy bear Adam bought for his little girl on his last trip to Europe :)

Thanks again, Erica! I love how you were able to capture our hearts in these photos!

check out more of her awesome work at: http://EricaLynnPhotography.blogspot.com/

Showered with love from my family

My family threw a shower for me to get ready for our little girl!!

My family is spread out all over the country, but amazingly, EIGHT states were represented at my shower!!! AND EVERYONE except me and the hostess had to travel OVER AN HOUR (some up to 10!) to get there! What an amazing demonstration of love! :)

The states: Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Missouri, Virginia, and Connecticut.

Karen was our hostess. She did an outstanding job of leading the devotion and games.

While I opened so many generous gifts, all the ladies played “bingo” with gift items.

Thank you ERICA for hosting the beautiful shower!! Everyone felt so welcome and comfortable in your beautifully decorated home!

After the shower, all the family and two friends who traveled a long way came back to our house to meet up with the guys to hang out for the afternoon. We made a new record for guests in our little condo: 33 people!!! (18 adults and 15 kids!)

Here are all the 4th generation kids on the front steps! From Mom’s side of the family, we’re just missing Matthew, Matthis, Jonas, and Ila. So 15 for 19, not too bad! Can’t wait for the next time we all get together!

in 3D!

Last Friday we had a super fun appointment getting 3D/4D Ultrasound images of our little girl!! At first she was a little shy... she had her hand in front of her face for the first 20 minutes :)



Following the technician's suggestion, we walked around the halls and up the stairs for a couple of minutes to see if we could get her moving. Then right before I laid back on the table, I took a couple sips of Adam's coffee...



And it must have worked! After that, she was ACTIVE and she moved her hand for a couple minutes so we could get a cute little video:



In the very beginning you can see the umbilical cord in front of her face. Then you'll notice at about 25 seconds, she moves her hand from the front to the side, and then lets out a big yawn. At the very end she rests her head on her hands :)

Some 2D shots:

FEET! (can you see her BIG toe in the left picture?!)


Profile shot, maybe smiling?!


Sleepy!


This one's my favorite, she looks so peaceful!


After that, she was done- she turned her head down to tell us she had enough poking around for the day!!

It was such a fun experience!! Adam loved it and even got a little teary-eyed (sorry hun, had to tell everyone!) What an awesome opportunity it was for us to visualize what's going on in her little world. Can't wait to touch her, hold her and kiss her in about 2 months!!

growing

We just got another glimpse of our baby girl! (And yes, a different ultrasound technician confirmed she IS indeed a girl!!)

Here she is at 27 weeks, 3 days! She is measuring just right at 27 weeks (I guess I should start mentally preparing for a late arrival?!)

She is now 2 lbs 2 oz, heart rate at 146bpm. The technician said she has long legs and arms!! No wonder I feel her moving around so much! :)

Also, my placenta moved up, so I am all clear.  We signed up to get a 3D/4D ultrasound at the end of October so stay tuned for more pictures and possibly a video!

Everything is going smoothly, Praise the Lord! We can’t wait to meet our little daughter in about 12 weeks!

Showered with Love

While we were out in Washington, Adam’s parents and sister surprised us by throwing a party for us!! We had somewhere around 60 people over for dinner. Dad grilled chicken, pork, hotdogs, and meatballs and pineapple kabobs. There was also corn on the cob, salads, delicious homemade breads, and an assortment of DELICIOUS desserts made by our friend Leah!

Here’s their newly renovated backyard complete with a huge fire pit:

Dad and a friend built those huge arbors and even installed outdoor lighting on them. It's the perfect place to host a large party. And it looks fantastic!

After we all had our fill, the ladies met inside and showered me with baby gifts!

Here’s Bekah modeling the famous “Tilly Towel” sewn by Adam’s mom:

We received many cute things like sleepers, blankets, and books.

Rebekah and Sadie were excellent helpers with all the gifts!

And it was great to see so many friends from Olympia Bible Presbyterian Church.

Thank you Tonya for taking all these photos!!

Here’s a view of what the TV room looked like during the shower! All the guys were outside talking, all the women were inside chatting, and the kids were watching Cars! And this isn’t even all the kids between the ages of 2 and 8 that were at the party!!

And the most special gift of the night… all the ladies of the church, as well as Grandma Bond, Mom, Karen, and Robin each hand-embroidered a square of a baby quilt!!

Adam’s sister Amy did all the hard work of designing the squares and assembling all the pieces. Isn’t it beautiful!!! (you can find more of her handiwork here)

Click on the picture below to see the details. I typed out the name of the person who made each square!

It is sooo special to us! It means so much that all these friends of ours from far away are praying for us and our little baby!! We have such an amazing support system of family and friends. I can’t wait to hang it on the wall of the nursery. What a fabulous focal point it will make :)